1. Field of the Invention
An humane trap for small animals, such as cats, includes a housing having rigid bottom, top, side, and front and rear end walls which cooperate to define an animal-receiving chamber, the front end wall being guided for vertical movement between opened and closed positions relative to the other housing walls. A retaining rod is axially displaceable within the chamber between a retaining position in which an end portion of the rod extends through a retaining opening contained in the second wall to maintain the same in the open position, and a released position removed from the retaining opening, whereby the front end wall is displaced by gravity toward the closed position. The retaining rod is released either by a food retention plate that is engaged by the animal in the trap, or by a remotely controlled solenoid arrangement.
2. Description of Related Art
Traps for small animals, such as cats, are well known in the patented prior art, as shown by the patents to Versaw U.S. Pat. No. 6,484,672, Brubaker U.S. Pat. No. 4,310,984, Jordan U.S. Pat. No. 4,031,653 and Campbell U.S. Pat. No. 4,266,362, among others. In these trapping devices, the housings and components may be formed from conventional synthetic plastic materials. It is also known to provide these animal traps with synthetic plastic bait plates, as shown by the patents to Nieves U.S. Pat. No. 6,202,340 and Fields U.S. Pat. No. 5,386,663.
The present invention was developed to provide an improved inexpensive, humane animal trap that is positive in operation either by the animal itself in the trap chamber, or by remote control means spaced a substantial distance from the trap housing.